


Need to Know

by china_shop



Category: White Collar
Genre: Domestic, Established Relationship, F/M, Fic, Identity Issues, M/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-07-19
Updated: 2011-07-19
Packaged: 2017-10-21 13:18:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,371
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/225613
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/china_shop/pseuds/china_shop
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Schmoopy domestic established-relationship not-quite-PWP. (No spoilers.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Need to Know

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to dragonfly and mergatrude for beta. <3

Neal swaggered up the steps to the house, all charm and supreme confidence, his voice like caramel. "We got Brownlee," he said. "I got him. Took him down, lock, stock and smoking barrel. And now I am going to show you a very _very_ good time."

Peter shook his head, filled with affectionate resignation. They'd talked about this. "Okay, Neal, come on. Get inside."

Neal batted his eyelashes, smirked and led the way through the door and into the living room. "Hey, babe," he called to El, who was sitting at the dining table doing her accounts.

"'Babe'?" El pushed her laptop aside immediately, as if she'd been waiting for them. She stood up and raised her eyebrows at Peter. "Undercover?"

"Neal took Steve Tabernacle out for a spin this afternoon," said Peter. "You know how he gets."

El slid her tongue along her lower lip. "I do indeed."

"I'm right here, you know," Neal told Peter. He loosened his tie. "I'm the same guy you fucked last night."

El blew Peter a kiss and made a beeline for Neal. She ran her hands up his chest to his shoulders and grinned at him. "Hey, babe, yourself."

"Has anyone ever told you how sizzling hot you are?" Neal dropped his hat on the arm of the couch and bent to kiss her, pulling her hard up against him, making her moan. It looked like an embrace out of a movie—something arthouse and blue.

Peter watched them, flushed and all over each other already. Any second now, El was going to start climbing Neal, and then all bets were off whether they'd even make it to the bedroom. "I'll just—make coffee," said Peter. "Or something."

Neal and El turned their faces to him. Neal was almost panting, his eyes blurred. He reached out a hand. "No, Peter. No. Stay. I guarantee I'll make it worth your while. You know it's more fun with three."

"Under normal circumstances, I'd agree with you," said Peter.

El brushed Neal's bangs back from his forehead and drew a line down his cheek with her fingernail. "You know how he gets."

Neal pouted. "I don't know what the big deal is. I'm still me."

"Mostly," said Peter. He stepped in long enough to press his lips to the corner of Neal's mouth, the smooth-shaven jaw soft against his chin, and steal a quick kiss from El. He could actually feel the sexual tension between the two of them, like an electric current. It made the back of his neck tingle. He squeezed Neal's shoulder and escaped to the kitchen.

It wasn't that Peter was averse to dirty talk or athletic fucking or any of the other things that Neal was likely to suggest when he was wired from a con, still sliding out of Steve's or Nick's or George's headspace. And it wasn't that Neal was less attractive when he was smooth talking and sexed up, looking for release—far from it. It was that he was less _Neal_ , and the only people Peter really wanted to have sex with were Elizabeth and Neal. The intrusion of any of Neal's alter egos put him on edge, and that made the whole endeavor far less appealing, as far as he was concerned.

Luckily, El wasn't so picky. She enjoyed the playfulness, the rush, the raw sex of it. She'd tried to sell Peter on it a couple of times, with and without Neal's help, but eventually they'd accepted that Peter was the way he was. These days, if Neal was in that kind of mood, for whatever reason, Peter left them to it.

The back door was standing open. Peter grabbed a beer and sat on the doorstep, squinting against the low angle of the sun. It had been a good day, a good clean bust. Neal had convinced a roomful of software company executives that he was the next big thing, so he could get access to Brownlee's harddrive and the evidence they needed. And although Brownlee had fired off a couple of shots when SWAT moved in, Neal had been well out of the firing line for once. Peter leaned back against the doorframe and let his worries drain away. If he listened carefully, he could hear El moaning, but he switched his attention to the yard, the interlocking paving stones, the fading sky and the intermittent sounds of passing pedestrians and traffic.

Satchmo waddled over from his spot beside the fence. Peter rubbed his soft furry ears and wondered if El had dinner planned or if he should take a look in the fridge, but he didn't move.

He was still there about fifteen minutes later, when he heard the fridge door open and close. Soft footsteps approached. "Hey."

Peter looked over his shoulder. Neal was barefoot, his hair in wild disarray, shirt hanging loose, but somehow quintessentially Neal. Peter felt a curl of recognition, and his shoulders relaxed, releasing tension he hadn't been aware of. It left a slight residual ache at the base of his neck, but nothing serious. "Hey, yourself. Where's El?"

"Taking a shower." Neal handed Peter another beer and nudged him aside with his knee so he could sit beside him. The step wasn't very wide, and their thighs pressed together, elbows overlapping. Neal had a glass of red wine, which he swirled, letting it catch the last of the light. "Everything okay?"

"Yeah." Peter took a swallow of beer and leaned across to kiss him. Neal smelled faintly of El and sex. Combined with the warm familiar look in his eyes and the soft set of his mouth, it made Peter's breath catch and his gut tighten. "Everything's good."

Neal grinned at him, genuinely amused. "Oh, I know that look. Hate to say it, buddy, but you missed your chance. I'm tapped out."

Peter grinned back. "You're not the only game in town, you know. Or even in this house."

"What are you saying?" asked Neal, leaning against him, apparently making himself comfortable.

Peter put his arm around Neal's waist and let contentment mingle with his arousal. "I'm saying I might try my luck with my wife, if you haven't completely worn her out." He considered for a moment. "After we eat."

"After dinner?" Neal pulled away far enough that he could look at Peter through his eyelashes, in a parody of his earlier seduction attempt. His eyes were dancing. "After dinner, I might reconsider. You know what they say: it's more fun with three."

Peter breathed a laugh. "I think I heard that somewhere. Wiseass."

"I have scientific studies. Empirical evidence." Neal yawned. "And I'm starving."

"Okay, okay." Peter stood up and hauled Neal to his feet. "Let's see if we can rustle something up and surprise El." He caught Neal's smirk and shook his head. "I meant food."

"You might think you meant food." Neal put his hand between Peter's shoulder blades and gave him a gentle shove. "Freud would have a field day."

"You do know Freud's been widely discredited," said Peter, but he took the hint and went inside, just as El came through the kitchen door. She was wearing her pale yellow pajamas, and her damp hair was pulled back into a ponytail. Peter raised his beer bottle in salute. "Hey, hon."

"Hey, hon." She came and kissed him, and he closed his eyes and put his arm around her, his desire quickening. El's mouth curved against his. "Mmm."

"Mmm?" asked Peter, pulling away.

El stole the beer from his hand and took a swig. "Better."

"It's all that moaning," said Neal. "It dries out your throat."

"Okay, Casanova," said El, reeling him in and kissing him too. "You're on salad duty. Honey, you can cook the steaks." She took down a glass and poured herself some wine.

"What about you?" asked Peter.

"I'm going to feed Satch." El clinked her glass against Neal's and then Peter's beer bottle. She met Peter's eyes as she took a sip, and he smiled involuntarily, loving her almost more than he could bear. Her voice went soft and sexy. "And I was thinking of luring you upstairs later," she added. "Both of you, for dessert."


End file.
